Can a bass player

[knarleybass]

I think it's important to like how you play, and yet still strive to improve your ability to play.
Is it ok to be your own favorite bass player? I guess so, as long as you aren't irritating about it I guess.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

In my interpretation of "being your own favorite bass player" I take it to mean you enjoy what you do more than you enjoy what other players do.

This is different, in my opinion, than saying you thoroughly enjoy your own style and listening to lines you create. It seems to imply that you feel this way over and above your feelings of other players.

Since that's how I interpret "my own favorite", it also implies that because you find what you do to be more appealing that what others do, the likelihood that what others do will inspire you is diminished. At that point, you are your own inspiration which pretty much means you've decided that "where you're at" is as far as you need to go.

I suppose I could pose a qualifying question and ask; If you are your own favorite bass player, how do you think you'd find inspiration or examples of things that interest you enough to push yourself to new/different levels?

OR - does being your own favorite player imply that you not only enjoy your own playing more than you enjoy others but you've also decided that where you are is as far as you need to go?

That's a difficult question. I generally can play what I am thinking of or would want to play, though I am my no means a genius, but satisfaction is more than what I'm doing on a bass at any one moment. I have a very hard time extracting, for instance Sting's bass lines -vs- mine and ignoring the context of the music in which his bass playing, or mine, occurs. Sometimes I like what I play, but I've never played music as a group member which I liked as much as his. It doesn't mean I've lived my musical life tragically unsatisfied, I just know what, in an ideal world, so to speak, what I want to hear in terms of sounds, composition, songs, and so on. I relish every moment to do music. No Wasted Time.

Other bassists are very motivational, but I also have times where I am noodling around and I motivate myself. It takes both kinds. At least for me.

For me, I don't generate too many songs of a pop/rock nature from the bass- I'm always writing from a guitar or keys perspective. For instrumental songs, I do write from bass sometimes.

I'm sure that I can always grow as a musician, but what I increasingly want is to be a better musician in general than as a bassist in specific.

 

[tZer]

OK - I think I've circular-logic'd myself into a corner - if that's possible...

If someone else is my favorite does that imply that I can only be inspired by that single player to the exclusion of all others? No. If I happen to be that "other player" does the same logic apply - yes. In other words, I could be the bass player that I enjoy listening to most but still find what other players do to be interesting and even inspirational.

I think I am inappropriately marrying the idea of being my own "favorite" and "thinking I am the best". If I thought I was the best, I'd probably cease to seek inspiration from others - or find what others do to be less than appealing, therefore I would no longer be "accepting input" into my own style.

But being my own "favorite" does not automatically me I also think I am the best. Hypothetically, let's say I think Paul McCartney is my favorite. That does not mean I don't find Richard Bona's playing to be stunning and inspirational. It means when given a choice, I'd more often choose to listen to Sir. Paul.

The same can certainly hold true if I enjoy my own playing more than other people's playing.

Therefore, I humbly retract all that stuff I was saying before.

 

[HashbrownCOBM]

man, you beat me to it! that is precisely what i was wondering myself.

LOL, awesome.